The Prison
by mspadfoot7
Summary: Sirius Black is hauled off to Azkaban for his alleged mass murder and betrayal of James and Lily Potter. But there's one person who thinks he might be innocent.
1. Chapter 1 Shattered

When Sirius came to, he was lying face-down on the cold stone floor, his eyes shut, and his head throbbing. He hadn't the faintest idea where he was or how he got there, but he didn't have the energy to open his eyes, so he just lay there, listening for any sounds that might tell him where he was, but an eerie silence surrounded him.

He tried to remember what had happened before he passed out. At first there was nothing; his mind was a blank wall. Then, like a river bursting through a dam, everything flooded into his mind all at once. James, Lily, Harry…. and suddenly he didn't want to remember. He wanted to make it stop. But it didn't.

He remembered walking away from Godrick's Hollow, and straight into a lamp post. He remembered deciding to find Wormtail to demand an explanation. He could remember, with sickening detail, pushing the door of Wormtail's hiding place open, and finding the place untouched; no signs of a struggle, not even a picture frame out of place. He could remember standing there, in the middle of the disturbingly tidy living room and coming to the horrible realization that the information hadn't been tortured out of Wormtail; Wormtail was the spy, all along. He remembered hunting down the boy he once thought of as a friend, to demand an explanation for what he did; a justification for the unjustifiable. He remembered finding him, cornering him, yelling at him…

And then everything was a blur. Not because he couldn't remember now, but because he was delirious then. There was an explosion of some sort… he remembered that much. An explosion, and lots of shouting. And then it went black.

A shiver of cold ran down Sirius' spine, and he heard an odd rattling noise - something eerily inhuman. He opened his eyes slowly, but all he could see was the stone floor his face was pressed against. Slowly and painfully, he pushed himself off the floor, raising his head wearily, and finally, looked around him. He was in a room. A small, cold room, with no furnishings and a large metal door that had no handle. High above him, a candle burned, dripping its hot wax onto his leg that was so numb, he didn't even notice the wax until he saw it. It took him a while to figure out where he was; it was not until his eyes fell on the rows of tally marks scratched into the wall opposite him that he realized he was in Azkaban.


	2. Chapter 2 Awakening

_Author's note__: Alright folks so… as you know, I love Sirius, and I'm in massive denial of both Sirius' incarceration and death. But one of the most tragic things about his character is the way, when he was framed, all the people who knew him, who knew what kind of person he was, who taught him, who shared his dorm with him… everyone was so quick to accept that he was a traitor. No one thought "wait something is fishy, it's not like Sirius to do this", no one bothered to find out the truth, or even demand that he get a trial. All at once, he was alone and friendless. And that breaks my heart. And I have to do something about that. So here's to a fanfiction with an actual storyline. _

It was a dark night. The moon was conspicuous by its absence in the cloudless sky and the only source of light on the street was the dull glow of a wand. The wizard who held it looked up at the dark sky, his eyes settling on the brightest star. His namesake, the dog star, twinkled back at him, and his lip curled into a snarl. "What are you winking for, you bastard?" he growled bitterly. His eyes on the star, he didn't notice the old lamp post until he walked straight into it. He swore out loud, his hand clapped over his nose that had slammed into the metal and was now bleeding. His cursing slowly disintegrated into incoherent screaming interspersed with uncontrollable sobs as he clung to the lamp post for support. Although he wasn't known for his displays of emotion, no one could blame him for breaking down like this tonight; he'd just lost his best friend in the world. And he knew it was his fault.

Sirius wasn't sure how long he had sat in the ruins of the house in Godrick's Hollow, or, indeed, when he left, but he'd finally found himself walking dazedly away, with the image of James and Lily's lifeless bodies still in his head. He vaguely remembered giving his motorbike to Hagrid, who needed it to… to… Sirius searched his memory. To take Harry to Lily's sister. Yes. That was it. Sirius had offered to take Harry in; as Harry's godfather, it was his duty to look after Harry in the event of James and Lily's deaths. But Hagrid had insisted, saying he was there upon Dumbledore's order, and Sirius had been in no mood to argue.

He let go of the lamp post, trying to compose himself, and stumbled forward. He tried to organize his mind into coherent thoughts but his mind buzzed like static on a television set, with the images of James and Lily flashing before his eyes. He gave up and sat down on the sidewalk, his face in his hands.

Why, why did he ever tell James to trust that rat? Sirius ground his teeth as rage bubbled up inside him, snapping him out of his shellshocked stupor. Wormtail. He needed to find Wormtail. He stood up and tore off, wishing he hadn't given his bike away in such a hurry.


	3. Chapter 3 Florentyna

Florentyna Sarah Elizabeth Abbott. A lovely, old fashioned name for an elegant, pretty young girl. Quite a pity, then, that Florentyna Sarah Elizabeth Abbott -or Ty, as she was called- was as far from elegant as one could get without physically being a bull in a china shop, and no one could possibly mistake her for old fashioned until she dyed her vivid blue hair back to brown. She _was_ rather pretty, though, there was no denying that.

She didn't feel very pretty first thing in the morning, however. Mornings were just not her mug of butterbeer, and on this particular morning, she was certainly in no mood to be awake. She had been up all of last night, celebrating the downfall of He Who Must Not Be Named, along with the entire wizarding world, and had admittedly drunk a tad too much firewhiskey to wake up without a hangover.

She stumbled out of bed and pushed a strand of wavy blue hair out of her face as she shuffled off to make herself breakfast. She was sipping on her coffee when a grey speckled owl flew in, carrying the morning paper. Ty paid the owl a knut and as it flew off, she unfolded the paper and began to read the headlines.

A familiar face stared up at her, under a headline that read "Best friend of war hero incarcerated". Ty rushed off to get her glasses, and sat down to read the article. Sirius Black… betray James? "No!" she breathed, her eyes widening in horror. She couldn't quite say that she knew Sirius personally; she was more of a… a fan. She'd always sit behind him and James during Charms - the only class the Ravenclaws had with Gryffindor - and she'd watch him shyly, never daring to speak to someone so popular.

But she knew enough about him to know that he'd never betray James. The two were so close that, were it not for James' famous romance with Lily, the two boys might've been mistaken for lovers. Sirius couldn't be responsible for James' death; that was just silly. Surely no one actually believed this. After all, everyone knew that the Daily Prophet tended towards sensationalism- but then, they wouldn't have carted him off to Azkaban based on rumour alone!

She read on, about his fight with Peter Pettigrew. _All they could find by the time Black was through with him, _it read, _was his finger. _Ty felt her stomach clench with unease. She bit her lip, and looked up, wondering what to believe. She shook her head again. It didn't matter what they said - something was definitely out of place. Because Sirius Black just couldn't -

Her eyes settled on the clock, and she squeaked with shock; she was running late. She threw on her work robes, brushed her hair, and dabbed on some make up, then without a second's delay, spun on her heel and _CRACK!_ she was gone.

She reappeared in the foyer of the Ministry of Magic, and took a couple of seconds to steady herself before she tore off to the Law department where she worked as a junior attorney.

Her desk was piled high with files, and throughout the morning, she had no time to think about Sirius or anyone else, but over lunch, she summoned up the audacity to ask her boss, Harvey Flint, about the Sirius Black case. "Will it come up for trial?" she asked nervously. Flint narrowed his eyes disdainfully, and snapped "what's it to you? You're too junior to be dealing with that case, anyway." Ty suppressed a scowl and replied, in the most polite tone she could muster, "I was just curious, sir; after all, it's a frightening case" she lied. He contemplated her, and then gruffly replied "He won't be having a trial." Ty nodded politely, but when she returned to her desk, even her files couldn't distract her from her worry. It wasn't fair not to give a man a trial, murderer or not.

She was the first to leave the office as soon as the clock struck five. She ran back to the foyer with the same haste as she'd run there with. She disapparated again, but this time, she appeared somewhere very unpleasant indeed. Dementors hovered overhead and high stone walls faced her. Rough waves broke against the rocks behind her, and the spray drenched her from head to toe. She was standing in front of the gates of Azkaban, the last place she'd like to be, and she was doing this all for a man who didn't even know or care that she existed.

She walked up to the gates, where a feeble old man sat, his skin papery white and wrinkled. "Please sir, but I would like to visit one of the inmates" she bit her lip. It would have been wise to have checked whether they even allow visitors into Azkaban, she reflected, a little too late. "Which one?" croaked the old man. "S- Sirius Black" she replied, trying to sound like she knew what she was doing. The old man's eyes widened. "That man is a high-security prisoner. No one may see him, for their own safety. Go away." he croaked, but Ty stood her ground. "I am is lawyer, and I demand to see him" she declared, raising her voice a little, and trying to look as authoritative as she could. After what seemed like forever, the old man mumbled "Alright then, but talk to him at your own risk." and shuffled off inside.

Ty grinned with pride, and followed him in. "Wait here," she was told, and directed to a small waiting room. She sat there alone, chewing her thumbnail anxiously as she waited. Today, she would dare to speak to Sirius Black.


End file.
